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Brewing with Zane: Modern Dragons

January 4, 2017

Courtesy Wizards of the Coast

“…Into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent …” Isaiah 30:6

Into the land of trouble and anguish, we go folks! Today’s Modern brew comes straight from the Good Book itself. Although I’m not quite sure what this Biblical prophet of the Old Testament was referring to exactly when he wrote the preceding verse, it’s obvious he wasn’t referring to elves, merfolk, eldrazi, or any of the other tribes currently running around in the Modern format. One thing is for sure, though, he was definitely talking about Dragons! Maybe he foresaw this new modern brew: BR Dragons!

Most of us have probably played against Timmy at FNM running the dragon deck that takes 8 turns to get rolling. Sadly, Timmy never got to turn 8 when he played you because you had to put him out of his misery before turn four. But weren’t we all just Timmys at one point? Didn’t we all just dream about beating our opponents down with dragon after dragon? Well, there be dragons below…

The core of our deck is built around 3 different dragons. Stormbreath, Thundermaw, and Thunderbreak. Big, red, flying and mostly hasty beat sticks. These are the things we like. Stormbreath is probably the most favored as its protection from white ability makes it extremely relevant in Modern, however, Thundermaw can be just what we need in the right situation.

The deck is extremely straightforward, just use kill spells and board wipes until you can build up enough mana/ramp to be able to start casting your dragons in a flurry of leathery wings.

There’s a lot of flavor in this deck, and Sarkhan’s triumph is not only flavorful but also a solid tutor card. It makes our deck a small toolbox we can work with. The instant speed makes this card worth playing, allowing us to tutor on the end of our opponent’s turn and drop a Thunderbreak or something larger on our next turn.

Dredge and Living End – Our mainboard Angers, Relics and Rakdos Charm help a lot here, add more Rakdos Charm, Nihil Spellbomb and even Lost Legacy naming Living end if you’re on the play and think you can race your opponent.

Infect – We’re already running quite a bit of removal in the Mainboard, Night of Souls’ Betrayal should help shut them down for good. If you need to tweak the SB for some Sudden Shock, do it.

Aggro/Burn – Kill every creature they play with your removal and stick a dragon as fast as you can-hopefully a Stormbreath they can’t get rid of.

Jund – Like most decks, probably our toughest matchups. Probably throw in Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury for another creature while siding out Volcanic Fallout.

Ad Nauseam/Combo – Best SB card is four Lost Legacy, name Ad Nauseam/Lightning Storm or whatever combo piece their deck needs. Throw in more Rakdos Charm and Kologhan’s Command for the artifact hate. You won’t be needing any of your sweepers.

This deck is for the Timmy in all of us. It’s just good fun to be able to cast dragons against an opponent, and most of us aren’t able to do it near often enough. The deck is flavorful and also very budget friendly, and Chandra can easily be replaced with another dragon or even Koth or Sarkhan to make it easier on your wallet. More Chandras or Bood Moons might be more up your alley if you’ve already invested in them.

I’m Zane, bringing you deck brews tier two through twenty-two since 2011. I won’t bore you with all that tier one nonsense! Thanks for stopping guys, post questions or comments below!